Oshkosh, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse women's basketball team fell 57-54 at UW-Oshkosh Tuesday night in the first round of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament (presented by Culver's). The Eagles drop to 19-7 on the season while the Titans improve to 19-7. UW-Oshkosh, receiving votes on this week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, advance to the tournament semifinals on Friday, February 24 at top-seeded UW-Whitewater. 

UW-Stout, the tournament's second-seed, will host third-seeded UW-Eau Claire in the other semifinal. UW-Eau Claire earned a 65-55 home win over sixth-seeded UW-Platteville on Tuesday night. 

UWL will await word if its earned one of 20 at-large bids to the NCAA Division III Championships. The 64-team field will be announced Monday, February 27 at 1:30 p.m.

UW-Oshkosh improved to 4-1 versus UWL in the WIAC Tournament, including wins the last three seasons. 

The teams traded three-pointers on the first two possessions of the game Tuesday night with Kayce Vaile opening with a three-pointer for UW-Oshkosh and Kyah Steiner for UWL. The Titans took a 11-8 lead with 6:27 left in the first quarter on a Kate Huml jumper, but Lauryn Milne connected on a pair of free throws to cut it to 11-10 with 5:53 remaining. UW-Oshkosh used a 6-0 run to take a 17-10 advantage with 3:32 left on four straight points from Vaile. UWL responded with a 6-0 run of its own to cut the deficit to 17-16 with 1:35 remaining after a Casandra Warmsley layup. Ava Douglas' free throws with 1:03 left gave UW-Oshkosh a 19-16 lead after the opening quarter.

UW-Oshkosh took a 22-18 lead on Jenna Jorgensen's jumper with 7:01 left in the second quarter, but UWL went on a 11-2 run to end the half. Milne's layup with 3:43 remaining gave the Eagles a 24-22 lead. After Vaile made two free throws with 2:43 left to the game, Grace Cote hit a three-pointer with :36 remaining to give UWL a 27-24 advantage. Nikki Dienberg's layup with :03 left made it 29-22 at halftime.

UWL took its largest lead of the game on the first basket of the second half as Alana Gilles scored on a layup to give the Eagles a 31-24 lead. UW-Oshkosh used a 7-0 run to force a 31-31 tie on Vaile's layup with 7:21 remaining. After Warmsley gave UWL a 33-1 lead on a layup, UW-Oshkosh's Sarah Hardwick and Huml hit back-to-back three-pointers to give the Titans a 37-33 lead. Gilles' two free throws and a Steiner layup tied the game for UWL. Carly Coulthart made two free throws with :17 left to give the Eagles a 41-39 lead, but Jorgensen hit two from the line with :01 to tie the game at 41-41 after three quarters. 
 

The fourth quarter featured six lead changes. Paige Schumann's layup with 6:40 left gave UWL a 46-45 lead, but Vaile's two free throws with 6:04 remaining provided UW-Oshkosh with a 47-46 advantage. After a UWL turnover, Vaile converted a layup and 49-46 lead with 5:36 left. Steiner hit one-of-two at the free throw line to make it 49-47, but a Ava Douglas layup gave UW-Oshkosh a four point lead. UWL later cut the deficit ot 51-50 on a pair of Dienberg free throws, but Vaile responded with two free throws with 1:17 left to make it 53-50. Gilles' layup with 1:01 remaining made it 53-52, but Jorgensen's layup with :31 left gave the Titans a 55-52 lead. UWL missed a three-point attempt and Huml was fouled with :06 left and made both free throws for a 57-52 advantage. Dienberg hit a corner jumper with :03 remaining. Hardwick missed a pair of free throws with :01 left, but UWL could not get a shot off.

UWL shot 35.3% from the field, including 20.0% (four-of-20) from three-point range, and 77.8% (14-of-18) at the free throw line. Eight different players scored for the Eagles with Gilles leading with 12 points. She was four-of-four from the field and four-of-four at the line while tying for the team lead with six rebounds with Steiner. Schumann finished with nine points while Steiner totaled eight and Milne seven. 

UW-Oshkosh shot 36.7% from the field, including 26.7% (four-of-15) from three-point range, and 89.5% (17-of-19) at the line. Vaile led the Titans with 19 points and eight rebounds while Jorgensen finished with 14 points and six rebounds. Huml totaled 11 points while Hardwick tied for the team lead with eight rebounds.